Walled Lake Spice it Up! Technology Conference

 



 

 

Walled Lake Consolidated Schools hosted its 8th annual Spice it Up! Technology Conference on Thursday, August 23, 2012 at Sarah Banks Middle School.  It was the best yet! 325-350 teachers and administrators attended this voluntary professional development event to help them learn new ways to incorporate technology into their instructional practices.  I coordinate the event and it is one of the highlights of my year!

John Sowash was the keynote speaker and he was outstanding!  I thought that he connected with the audience and was inspirational; his message was a fantastic start to the day. He spoke about the importance of setting high expectations, including projects where students create and publish to a world-wide audience, and the critical need to teach tech/info literacy skills.  His stories and visuals drove his points home.

We used Edmodo as a platform for presenters to share resources and for attendees to ask questions and post ideas. Hopefully the conversation will continue after the conference!   116 people visited the site, so roughly a third of our attendees used Edmodo during the conference.  Edmodo was new to most of the attendees, so using it for the conference introduced the tool to them, which was great - my guess is that many will now use it with their colleagues and students.

The conference came just a few weeks after all the teachers in the district received a new iPad and laptop. We are so fortunate! I wish we had scheduled more beginner iPad sessions.  Of course there are plans to offer a variety of training & support in the next month or so!

The conference would not be possible without the Walled Lake presenters, who volunteered their time to plan and share their experiences with their colleagues.  They were fantastic!  Thank you JP Arens, Jon Bison, Jennifer Bond, Laura Brown, Kim Chumney, Lynn Dunn, Cindy Goris, Dennis Graham, Barbie Green, John Gregg, Krista Harmsworth, Mark Hess, Kelly Holubeck-Gotts, Deb Jess, Laura King, Caron LaBlanc, Jennifer LaCross, Mark Lada, Kim Loszewski, Scott MacIsaac, Michele McKendry, Randy Micallef, Kathren O'Brien, Ryan Ossenmacher, Rob Osterman, Barb Ozminkowski, Brad Paddock, Davida Pesick, Jennifer Phillips, Kelly Reuter, Theresa Robinson, Cheryl Roden, Gina Sartor, Jessica Schultz, Jennifer Shamberger, Pam Shoemaker, David Stanton, Amy Stasak, Renee Valentine, Katie Weingarden, and Jane Wendyker.

The administrators at Sarah Banks Middle School, Brad Paddock & David Stanton, were so helpful and accommodating in the days leading up to and on the day of the conference, and the IT Department was there in full force to assist attendees as needed.  There are so many others to thank; it was a prize effort by many, and is truly an event that positively impacts the learning that occurs in classrooms across the district.

 

ISTE 2012

I had the pleasure of attending the ISTE Conference in San Diego. WOW!   It's been a few weeks now, but today is the first day I've been home and able to do some reflection.  I stayed for a few extra days to enjoy the lovely sunny 70 degree  weather - I visited the San Diego Zoo and the US Midway Museum (time well spent).  The day after I got home, I left again to spend time in beautiful northern Michigan - golfing, boating, and visiting with family.

I learned just a few weeks before the conference that I could attend, thanks to the MACUL organization.  I am humbled to be elected as their President Elect, so I'm looking forward to my year in training from this year's President, Steve Schiller.

There will be several blog entries coming in the next several days about what I learned at the conference.

I most enjoyed attending the ISTE Affiliate meeting.  The day before the main conference began, a full-day meeting was held and attended by all of ISTE Affiliate group (MACUL-like groups from all over the USA and a few other countries) leaders. We discussed ideas and strategies to make our respective organizations stronger.  I appreciated all of the networking opportunities and feel proud to be a part of MACUL, one of the largest and most vibrant affiliate groups.  Our Executive Director, Ric Wiltse, is on the ISTE Board and had a role in planning and facilitating the meeting - I also learned that he was elected to be ISTE's new treasurer!

I attended the conference through a "MACUL lens" - looking for ideas to tweak or replicate, hunting for presenters that we might want to invite to our conference, and networking with ed tech leaders from other states. Overall, I left the ISTE Conference with a strong feeling that MACUL serves and leads its members in innovative ways that make a difference at the classroom level.

 

Walled Lake Schools Spice it Up! Technology Conference

Every year, just before school starts, the Walled Lake Consolidated School District hosts a technology conference. The conference is planned, organized, and facilitated by Walled Lake staff for Walled Lake staff. This past August, a huge wind storm blew through the area the night before the conference.  The morning of the conference, we discovered that there was no power at the hosting school, so we had to cancel it.  Hundreds of teachers and administrators were disappointed to find out that their yearly dose of tech medicine was not available. 

 

The planning team was determined to reschedule the conference for an upcoming Saturday. This proved to be more challenging than we figured. We needed to work around "big" football games, holidays, and the schedule of our keynote speaker. Rescheduling for a Fall Saturday was impossible! We couldn't find a date until January 21, 2012.  Therefore, the organizing and planning process needed to start all over, and we did the work we needed to do.  We soon discovered that over 200 people registered to attend, which is unheard of for a local conference held on a Saturday.  When a winter storm was predicted to come through the night before, we just could not believe it.  The storm turned out to be just a few inches of snow, and we had power. Hooray! 

 

Our Keynote speaker, Dr. Rebecca Harris, General Motors' Social Media Strategist, delivered a perfect message to a perfect day. She explained the importance of social media in the business world, and challenged the teachers and administrators attending the conference to personally experience the worlds of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. This is an important first step that is critical as we prepare our students the important skills they will need to survive in the world they are currently living in. 

 

The Walled Lake teacher leaders delivered a smorgasbord of learning opportunities for their peers. I believe that our home-grown method of providing professional develment is tops. People can reach out to their peers to ask questions and ask for advice. "If he/she can do it at that school with the same resources, then I can, too!"  

 

Our little conference garnishes professional relationships, provides needed encouragement, and tweeks learning that promotes the kinds of skills that our students require to survive in the world they will live in after they leave us, their college years and beyond. I am so proud of the teacher leaders who volunteer their time and share their talents to help make the Walled Lake Consolidated School District the best place to educate children. 

Coming Soon! Walled Lake Spice it Up Technology Conference

Walled Lake Consolidated School District in SE Michigan hosts an annual tech conference just prior to the school year begins; the Spice it Up Technology Conference.  I chair the event and it's coming up on Thursday, August 25.  It is sure to be our best yet!

Highlights: 

• Our keynote speaker is Dr. Rebecca Harris, General Motors' Social Media Strategist.  Dr. Harris will explain what GM does to communicate with consumers, stakeholders, and dealers to show how social media is a real medium that EVERYONE needs to understand to be successful in business and life today.  Our role as professionals in helping our students utilize social media in positive ways is critical as we help prepare them for success in their future endeavors.


• SB-CEUs are available for the first time!


• Over 50 sessions!


• Held in a beautiful school with wireless Internet access throughout, making BYOL sessions possible.


• Sessions for teachers, administrators, secretaries, and parapros.


• Lots of "buzz" in the air; people excited to attend and learn!

The conference brochure is available here.  Although the conference is put on by Walled Lake staff for Walled Lake staff, educators outside of our district can attend for a small fee.  Contact me if interested.

 

 

EdCamp Detroit

Last Saturday, I attended EdCamp Detroit at Wayne State University, http://edcampdetroit.org/.  It was a conference designed to bring educators together to discuss technology that works.  The format was not typical; it was an unconference, a conference format quickly growing in popularity across the country.  You really need to experience it to understand it.  The organizers provide the basic framework, the people who attend decide what will be discussed.

The people who show up can volunteer to facilitate a session if they want to.  They write their topic and name on a piece of paper and tape it to the wall.  The conference organizers assign the sessions to specific times (session 1, 2, 3, 4)  and room numbers.  Attendees show up to the sessions they desire.  NO CONFERENCE BROCHURE.

What's neat about it is that the facilitators do not have to be experts on the topic.  The sessions tend to be more collaborative in nature with people sharing experiences and resources on the topic at hand.

I enjoyed a day of learning and collaboration.  I chose not to facilitate a session and it was nice for a change.  I am usually the one organizing, facilitating, and leading the conferences I attend.  I was able to go to this one with my learner hat on!

Sessions I attended:

Mobile Learning (Cheryl Lykowski):  This session was a great discussion about "Bring Your Own Devices," and many iPod/iPad apps were shared. Some apps I want to check out include SoundNote, QR readers, Discovery, Bluster, Inkling, and Teachers Assistant Pro.  Bookshare is coming soon!

Pseudoteaching (Steve Dickie):  I had never even heard this word, so it intrigued me.  This was another great discussion and it was all about effective teaching.  How do you really know if your students "got it?" Some lessons that seem to be perfect ones actually do not lead to student learning.  We discussed the use of video to help students understand.  Research from the Khan Academy has shown that sometimes using video that students can easily understand actually lead them to not attend to the content (they think they get it, and therefore do not pay attention).  The key is to keep it at just the right difficulty level (students need to be challenged, but not so challenged that they tune out). Keep the students questioning and active. Use frequent formative assessment techniques.

Edmodo, "Facebook" for Students:  This is an application I have used and like, and I'm hoping that it will be used by several teachers in my district next year. The teacher who presented (sorry, don't remember her name) uses Edmodo in place of a classroom website.  Her school is a 1:1 school, and actually the whole school uses Edmodo.  She said that students discovered that they could sign up for a teacher account on the Edmodo website and do naughty things.  To prevent this, they created a logon page that takes students directly to the school Edmodo site , not the main Edmodo site.  Good to know!

Last Saturday, I attended EdCamp Detroit at Wayne State University.  It was a conference designed to bring educators together to discuss technology that works.  The format was not typical; it was an unconference, a conference format quickly growing in popularity across the country.  You really need to experience it to understand it.  The organizers provide the basic framework, the people who attend decide what will be discussed.  Thanks to @thenerdyteacher and the other conference organizers!

The people who show up can volunteer to facilitate a session if they want to.  They write their topic and name on a piece of paper and tape it to the wall.  The conference organizers assign the sessions to specific times (session 1, 2, 3, 4)  and room numbers.  Attendees show up to the sessions they desire.  NO CONFERENCE BROCHURE.

What's neat about it is that the facilitators do not have to be experts on the topic.  The sessions tend to be more collaborative in nature with people sharing experiences and resources on the topic at hand.  People go away getting the learning they want and need.

I enjoyed a day of learning and collaboration.  I chose not to facilitate a session and it was nice for a change.  I am usually the one organizing, facilitating, and leading the conferences I attend.  I was able to go to this one with my learner hat on!

Sessions I attended:

• Mobile Learning (Cheryl Lykowski):  This session was a great discussion about "Bring Your Own Devices," and many iPod/iPad apps were shared. Some apps I want to check out include SoundNote, DiscoveryEducation, Bluster, Inkling, and Teachers Assistant Pro.  Bookshare is coming soon for students with print disabilities!

• Pseudoteaching (Steve Dickie):  I had never even heard this word, so it intrigued me.  This was another great discussion and it was all about effective teaching.  How do you really know if your students "got it?" Some lessons that seem to be perfect ones actually do not lead to student learning.  We discussed the use of video to help students understand.  Research from the Khan Academy has shown that sometimes using video that students can easily understand actually lead them to not attend to the content (they think they get it, and therefore do not pay attention).  The key is to keep it at just the right difficulty level (students need to be challenged, but not so challenged that they tune out). Keep the students questioning and active. Use frequent formative assessment techniques.

• Edmodo - "Facebook" for Students:  This is an application I have used and like, and I'm hoping that it will be used by several teachers in my district next year. The teacher who presented (sorry, don't remember her name) uses Edmodo in place of a classroom website.  Her school is a 1:1 school, and actually the whole school uses Edmodo.  She said that students discovered that they could sign up for a teacher account on the Edmodo website and do naughty things.  To prevent this, they created a logon page that takes students directly to the school Edmodo site , not the main Edmodo site.  Good to know!

• Google Lit Trips (Cheryl Lykowski) - I've been meaning to learn more about Google Lit Trips for a few years now.  I found out that there are many that have been created and and ready to be used by educators.  They are indexed by grade level and book on Jerome Burg's blog.  Yes, they are ready to go!  You can also create your own and directions for making them are also on Jerome's blog.

I'd like to give the unconference format a try in my school district.  I know that we have built a culture of collaboration and that it would work for us if we set the stage right.  I can envision this format eventually being used on professional development days at each school, with teachers sharing and learning what they want and need to learn.

On a Techie High

The annual MACUL Conference was held this past week.  The word on the street is that the conference was the best ever.  This is good news to me, because I'm on the Board of Directors and helped plan and carry it off.   :)    There were over 4,000 attendees and I could feel the high level of energy and enthusiasm among those who were there.  I kept really busy with organizational tasks throughout the conference, and was only able to make a few of the sessions, so I look forward to keeping my own learning going; there are many ways to do this:

• Check out the awesome resource materials posted by presenters on the Speakers' page of the MACUL website.


• Browse through the #macul11 tweets. Conference attendees posted quotes, links, ideas, questions, photos, and more.


• Follow the discussions going on at MACULSpace.  I just added a forum for sharing your "best of MACUL" stories.


• Read the posts on the MACUL Conference Blog.


• The keynotes and some of the featured speakers were videotaped.  The videos will soon be available on Michigan Streamnet.

But wait... there's more!  The day after the MACUL Conference, my district hosted the Stir it Up with Discovery Education Conference.  It was sponsored by Discovery Education, and it was like a "mini MACUL Conference."  Many educators who were not able to get away for the MACUL Conference came. There were 75 attendees from at least 15 SE Michigan school districts.  We were lucky to have Discovery Education's Mike Bryant, Matt Monjan, and Porter Palmer there.   The Michigan Discovery Education Leadership Team planned and presented at the event: Cheryl Lykowski, Eric Strommer, Gina Loveless, Lisa Wickman, Cindy Carson, and me.  Walled Lake educators who presented included Mark Lada, Randy Micallef, Jennifer Bond, Rob Osterman, and Mark Hess.  Support for technology integration by the Walled Lake Consolidated Schools administrative team was apparent, as many attended:  Superintendent Gutman; Assistant Superintendent Barry; Director of Technology & Data Analysis, Mark Hess; Director of Community Relations, Judy Evola; and the hosting school's principal, Brad Paddock.  AWESOME!   You can check out the conference wiki for session handouts and other electronic resources.

I'm tired physically, but am intellectually energized!

Awesome Presentations Available Online

Last weekend, the Discovery Educator Network (DEN) hosted their annual Virtual Conference. In Michigan, we host a face-to-face event in conjunction with the online presentations. I'm on the DEN Event Team and was one of the face-to-face session facilitators along with several other inspiring educators across the state. One disadvantage to being involved in facilitating the face-to-face event, is not being able to attend many of the sessions. I was pleased to learn this morning that the virtual breakout sessions are not available, so I can attend whenever I have a free moment. If any of the following topics interest you, I encourage you to do the same:

• Students as collaborators, creators, and directors


• Podcasting


• Making your PowerPoint presentations more interesting


• Using Discovery Education's teacher tools (assignment builder, quiz builder, etc)


• Gloggle


• Sharing your multimedia projects with the world

Access all of these presentations on the DEN Blog Virtual Conference  page.  Enjoy!

Discovery Educator Network Virtual Conference

The Spring DEN Virtual Conference is coming up soon! 

When?
Saturday, April 25, 2009
9 AM to 3 PM EDT

Where?
Online

How much?
Free.

The day will feature a special presentation from Chris Lehmann, Principal of the Science Leadership Academy in the School District of Philadelphia as well as a great lineup of sessions from STAR Discovery Educators and the DEN team.

Registration is open now so check the blog for all the updates.  The schedule of presentations is available and they sound fantastic!

Register to attend here.  You can attend for one hour or all day!

"Snorkeling" at the MACUL Conference

I have kicked the nasty pneumonia that kept me from attending the MACUL Conference this year. Thanks for all the get well wishes that so many of you sent during the conference. Since I was not able to attend, I've been hounding everyone in my district who attended to share their experiences with me. The feedback from people in my district who did attend was overly positive as you will see by their comments below.

The first person I bumped into told me that the MACUL Conference was the best conference she has ever attended. She told me that the Alan November keynote was the perfect start to a fantastic conference. Last weekend, she spent some time exploring some of the new tools she was introduced to at the conference and shared a video she made with GoAnimate (a very cute invitation to her son's birthday party).

Many people in my district were only able to attend the pre-conference. They appreciated the in-depth hands on approach. Several were wowed by Jason Ohler's digital storytelling session. One teacher stated "I was impressed with his focus on story over glitz. His framework offers a boost to teachers who believe they do not have the time, money or skills needed to encourage students to create stories of their own." Someone else said "His story mapping models are a great way to help kids organize ideas into something with meaning." Teachers from one of our middle schools have already scheduled a digital storytelling workshop to offer teachers at their building. Another teacher has plans to transform a poetry unit into a poetry digital storytelling unit.

Several people were introduced to Google Docs. "I think that GoogleDocs has lots of possibilities for the classroom. Its ability to have users revise the same document in real time is incredible. Peer editing will be so much fun!" 

"Steve Dembo had tons of cool things to share. His energy and knowledge are inspiring. The most important thing I came away with from his presentations is a better idea of how fast the tool kit is growing and the idea that the educational applications of the new web need to be developed and then shared with others."

 One teacher used a clever metaphor. She said, "I learned about many web 2.0 tools which I liken to snorkeling: I have seen the surface of the web, but there is so much more underwater." My advice is to pick one and give it a try; soon you'll be swimming for more!

MACUL Memories

I'm on the MACUL Conference blogging team; this entry will soon be posted there as well.

I attended my first MACUL Conference in 2002 and have attended each year since.  I went the first year as a participant only; I got the feel for MACUL and benefited greatly from what I experienced and learned.  The following year, and each year thereafter, I have come to the conference as a presenter.  I like sharing and helping others learn and grow, and having a "presenter mindset" keeps me always on the hunt for new ways of using technology for teaching and learning. 

Some of the most important MACUL experiences that have shaped me professionally include:

• Purchasing a Snagit/Camtasia bundle from the vendor area in 2002.  I began screencasting long before it became a fad.  People still come up to me and tell me they recognize my voice from the CD I published back in 2003!  I'm still using Camtasia (and Jing) on a regular basis. 


• Receiving a MACUL grant in 2004 for a digital storytelling project.  I presented at the MACUL conference with a teacher from my district to share what we did and how digital storytelling positively impacts student writing.  I developed a website to go with it, and people from all over the world still visit and use the teaching materials, especially to show the student examples. 


• Hearing about the power of blogging from Will Richardson and David Warlick at Macul 2005.  I created my own blog, Yes Tech! in Nov 2006 and have found that it helps me to be a reflective practitioner.


• Attending a Steve Dembo "Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools" session in 2007 opened my eyes to many new tools: Twitter, Wikispaces, and Flickr, to name a few.


• Getting to know & networking with other like-minded educators at social events on Thursday nights!  The face-to-face meetings have continued, thanks to MACUL Space. 

What are your favorite MACUL memories?